Rolling steel beams



" (No Model.) I

i' l Y A. o. KLOMAN.

ROLLING STEEL BEAMS.

Nb. 244,811. Patented July 26,1881..

| H A[IIL lllwl' t Q L i'I- k l l l Il L \W/ l I L s l l hl I l I I H y H Q N. PETERS. Pimmunhognphun www DC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTHONY c. KLoMAN, on ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLING STEEL BEAMS.

SPECIFICATION `forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,811, dated July 26, 1881. Application ined March 3, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ANTHONY C. KLOMAN, of Allegheny, county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered a new and useful Improvement inRolling Steel I-Beams; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part ot' this specification, in which-like letters indicating like parts- Figure 1 is a front View, in elevation, of a pair ot' rollsillustrative'of the present invention;and Figs. 2 to 6 are outline diagram views of the shape of the bar or beam at successive stages of its manufacture, and illustrative of the changes of form effected bythe different successlve passes.y Asis Well known, there is a growing demand for steel as a substitute foriron for man y structural purposes. Among other Athings a call is made for large steel I-beams.

Hithertoit has been found impracticable to make such large beams of steel-say from aboutv eight-inch beams and upward-on account ot' the difficulty ot' getting the steel into an I- beam shape. It has been found impracticable to cast the ingot ofthe desired shape to a size such as when rolled out will give a large and long beam. Securing the shape by piling, as in iron-working, is also impracticableA in steel, and the rolling of au I-beam by ordinary processes of rolling, direct from a steel ingot rectangular in cross-section, is commercially impracticable, except in a universal mill, and even then the work is difficult and costly.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a pair of rolls by the use of which I am enabled to work a rectangular steel bar or billet into an I-beam form by a method which I believe to be new, the chief characteristic feature of whichis the working of the steel in such manner that the bulk of the steel which goes to form the heads and flanges is first worked upwardly on one edge of the bar and downwardly on the other edge, so as to form two flanges on diagonally-opposite corners of the bar, each having an amount of metal in excess of what is required in each completed flange. After this is done the bar or billet is passed through grooves of such form that the edge metal is of an inch.

worked in the reverse direction by a like operation, so as to form ilanges on the other two corners. In this way I bring the billet or bar to an I-beam form, after which the billet is reduced and drawn down to the size required by a rolling operation such as is common in the ordinary rolling of iron I-beams of like size from properly-formed piles.

At R R', I have shown a pair of rolls havinga system of grooves such as Iem ploy. Assuming that the ingot has been rolled down to the form of a rectangular bar or billet of, say, sixteen (16) inches by six (6) in cross-section, (illustrated by dotted liines in Fig. 2, I give it a a pass (properly heated) through the groove a, the form of which is such that the inclined walls c c shall work one edge, e, of the bar upwardly and the other end, e', downwardly into the sub-grooves a', so as to make a partial ange, 3,011 two diagonally-opposite corners of the bar. The bar may at the same time be slightly reduced in thickness-say about halt' This first pass, it will be observed, by working the metal in the edges of the bar around to form the partial flanges s, narrows the bar about an inch. The bar then has the form substantially as represented by full lines in Fig. 2. It next goes through the groove a2, where, by identically the same operation, the bar is again narrowed, and the metal displaced in narrowing is worked around into the deeper sub-grooves ai', so as to increase to a corresponding extent the size of the partial tlanges now marked s. This is effected by the inclined walls c', which at this pass work the edge e2 of the bar, With its flanges, still farther upward, and the edge e3, with its ange,

`still farther downward, so as to enlarge such partial flanges, as indicated at s, Fig. 3. At the same time, by the use ot' other sub-grooves, d, if so desired,`the work of making the other two ilanges may be commenced; but the amount of Work which can thus be done in steel-rolling is comparatively small, and these4 subgrooves d d may be used at this pass or omitted at pleasure, since Irely for the most part on the novel method already indicated for effecting the proper disposition of the metal.

Fig. 3 illustrates by dotted lines the form of the bar before this pass is made and by full lines its form after this pass is made. Also,

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at this pass, as at the previous one, the middle part ot' the har is slightly reduced in thickness, and the working around ofthe ends of the bar. as described, narrows it, say,.about an inch. I then pass the bar or billet through the groove a4, and in the same manner as already described still further narrow it, and to the extent of such narrowing work the excess of metal around upwardly on one edge and downwardly on the other, so as tostill further enlarge the flange parts by working the metal into the sub-grooves a?, and also, if desired, develop to a further extent,though but slightly, the beads z, which constitute a beginning of the othertwo flanges. In Fig. 4 the dotted line shows this form of the billet before and the full line after this pass is made.

This work maybe carried on through any desired number of passes more or less than the number shown, but sufficient to give a body of met-al in the flanges s2 so far corresponding in size to the rest of the billet at the end of the forming operalion that all parts will roll down together. After this is done I pass the billet through a groove, a, in which still further reduction is made in the width of the billet; but the excess of edge metal displaced is worked in the reverse directions from that above described, so as to be forced into the sub-grooves a7. It will be seen that in this operation the previously-formed flanges s2 remain substantiallyv unchanged, except as a portion of the metal which has been used to form them is worked back in a reverse direction, and with other displaced metal is worked into the sub-grooves a?, so as to form the other two partial flanges, s3. In Fig. 5 the form of the billet before and after this pass is represented by dotted and full lines, as before. The partial flanges si may be filled out toa still larger size by being passed through another groove, which may sustain the same relation to a which a* sustains to a2,- bnt the same result may be secured by the use of a groove, a, so shaped as to reduce somewhat the lianges s2 and force the excess of metal in the heads over into the sub-grooves a9, and thereby enlarge to a corresponding size the partial flan ges s3 and bring them to the form shown at s". rIhese forms are illustrated at Fig. 6, as before. The billethas now an I-beam form, such that by the ordinary rolling operation, such as is customary in iron working, it may be drawn and reduced to the nished size.

VVhiie I have specified number and order of passes, sizes of bar or billet, dimensions and extent of reduction with some particularity, I have done so simply in order to explain the invention with the greater elearness, and not with any intent thereby to limit the scope of the invention.

The number of the passes may be varied at pleasure, as also the order-as, .for example, after the rst partial flanges s are formed, the body of metal in the edges of the bar, which was moved to form those partial flan ges, may at the next pass, with further narrowing, be worked back in the reverse direction, so as to form two like partial anges on the other two corners of the bar; and thus the work may go on by narrowing the bar at each pass by means of the inclined walls of the grooves, in such manner as on one pass to work the bulk of the metal displaced at t'he edges of the bar upwardly on one edge and downwardly on the other, and atthe next pass in the opposite directions. And even if, by the use of small sub-grooves, as illustrated at d, a comparativelysmall amount of metal may at any one pass be worked out in a direction other than that thus designated for such pass, it will still remain true that the greater part of the useful effect will result from the working up and down of the edge metal in opposite directions on the opposite edges at the same pass and in reversed directions on different passes.

The sizes of the grooves and the amount of reduction at the different passes may be regulated by the skilled steel worker. Also, the grooves may be arranged in different rolls, if so preferred, though, as I believe, less advantageously, unless a considerable number of grooves be requiredsay for large-sized beams.

I claim herein as my invention- 1. The method described of reducinga billet or ingot of steel rectangular in form in crosssection to a form approximately an I-beamto wit, gradually working or drawing the mass of metal at the edges outwardly, first in one direction and then in the opposite direction, but always at right angles substantially to the face of the billet, thus reducing its breadth until masses of metal in suicient quantity have been projected from the corners of the billet or ingot to form the heads or ilanges of the beam.

2. A pair or pairs of' rolls having series of diagonal grooves, substantially such as are indicated in the drawings by the letters a a a2 an a* a5 a6 ai, and the supplemental horizontal groove a8 a, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof` I have hereunto set my hand.

ANTHONY C. KLOMAN.

Witnesses R. II. Wm'r'rLnsEY, GEORGE H. CHRISTY.

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